Jaitley's endorsement of Upadhyaya doesn't come as a surprise, for the latter has been the source of ideological guidance and moral inspiration for the BJP since its inception.
With his surprise sabbatical "for a few weeks" sparking speculations, the Congress on Monday jumped in to damage control asserting that Rahul Gandhi will actively take part in all party processes after he comes back from the leave in near future.
Estimated to cost about Rs 81 lakh per coach, about 700 such modern coaches will be manufactured in the current fiscal.
After several delays, it will be completed by Jan 2017.
Jaitley, who was the finance minister before a medical procedure led to the charge being temporarily taken away from him, missed presenting the sixth and final Budget of the Narendra Modi government before the general elections. In his absence, the charge of the ministry was given to Railways Minister Piyush Goyal.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday asked the Election Commission to take serious note of Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda clearing the land deal between Robert Vadra and DLF, alleging that it was done hastily as the Congress faced "certain defeat" in the October 15 Haryana assembly polls.
'I'm pitching India for the strengths we offer, including the English language, engineers, doctors, nurses, professionals, innovative talent of startups.'
Railway Minister Lalu Prasad promised this year's Rail budget would be a basket of comforts for the common man.
Our country needs massive investment in access of Rs 50 lakh crore in infrastructure to increase growth of GDP and integrate the nation with a network of roads, airports, railways, inland water and to provide good quality services to the people: FM
The Rajya Sabha gave its nod to the Railways for withdrawing additional funds of Rs 1024.61 crore (Rs 10.24 billion) for 2010-11 amidst din.
'The government has realised that the finances of the government are in a precarious state.' 'We are borrowing to fund the ever-burgeoning revenue deficit.' 'Then you are paying interest on the fresh borrowing.' 'For the first time, the government has realised that this cannot go on.'
K C Venugopal (Congress) charged the Modi government with providing little funds for the MGNREGA.
If Kerala wants to sustain its room for independent thinking and talk back to Delhi when needed, it should put its finances in order. Or - if one takes the North East example - Kerala's political posturing may end up commensurate with its financial dependence on others, suggests Shyam G Menon.
Living up to his promise of presenting a people-friendly Rail Budget, with one eye on the general elections to be held due next year, Indian Railways Minister Lalu Prasad tabled a populist budget in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday.
However, no refund of the premium will be given in case of cancellation of the ticket
A joint forum of central trade unions has given a call for a nationwide strike on March 28 and 29 to protest against the government policies affecting workers, farmers, and people.
The Lok Sabha, chaired by Speaker Om Birla, has been working for more than its scheduled time and has sat till midnight on two occasions to complete its legislative business.
Industry bodies said the decisions will help attract much-needed capital, create jobs, encourage collaboration and benefit cash-starved small and medium enterprises.
The first ever air-conditioned suburban local for Mumbai, which was flagged off from Integral Coach Factory in Chennai on March 31, has finally arrived in the metropolis, and its trial run would take place within a week, said a senior Central Railway official on Tuesday.
Changing tracks helps. But, not taking the beaten path isn't always helpful. This is the story of two of India's biggest privatisations - Air India and Bharat Petroleum (BPCL). Nearly two decades after the last privatisation, a landmark divestment concluded this year when the loss-making national carrier Air India was sold to the Tatas.
'While all would agree on the need to be ready to launch cross-border strikes on terror camps, there is sharp disagreement on how best to do it.' 'Through IAF fighters, or surface-to-surface missiles?' 'Or should army Special Forces be created to do the job?' 'If air strikes are the agreed priority, additional funding must be made available for the purchase of fighters and missiles.' 'If it is to be Special Forces, the army must be facilitated in raising a Special Forces Command,' notes Ajai Shukla.
"No one is above party discipline. Dinesh Trivedi did not consult me or Mukul Roy (the party all India general secretary)," party insiders quoted Banerjee telling the Trinamool Congress legislature party meeting ahead of the budget session of the West Bengal legislative assembly.
India will need an annual investment of Rs 15 trillion in infrastructure over the next five years, says Chandrajit Banerjee, DG, CII.
Jaitley is now a minister without portfolio in the Narendra Modi government.
The Congress core group met at the prime minister's residence late on Wednesday night and weighed options to deal with the demand made by Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee to sack Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi.
The last session of the current Lok Sabha beginning on Thursday is expected to be stormy with political parties likely to extract the maximum mileage ahead of the general elections.
The session spread over ten sittings is essentially for taking a vote on account on Railway and General Budgets but being the first one during the year, it will begin with the President's address on the opening day. An inkling of the shape of things to come was evident when the ruling Congress and main opposition BJP virtually kicked off their poll campaign on Sunday, taking on each other on issues like terrorism, unemployment and inflation.
BSE Oil & Gas index declined by almost 2.5% followed by counters like Auto, Capital Goods, PSU and Metal, all plunging by almost 2% each. Apart from IT and FMCG, all the major BSE sectoral indices are trading in red zone.
The Trinamool Congress MP said he is unable to bear various incidents that are happening in West Bengal.
China will use airpower to support Pakistan from the start of a war. China will use the opportunity to at least take Ladakh. Its growing navy will prevent India from blockading or attacking the Makran Coast. And thanks to Chinese weapons, Pakistan keeps expanding its forces, observes Ravi Rikhye.
Indian economy about to take-off
The announcement of a deferral is expected to be part of Finance Minister Arun Jaitley's Budget speech on February 29.
They say that a stimulus package may not be necessary because, unlike last year's total lockdown, public transport, including the railways and airlines, is running and the restrictions on movement are localised and, in some cases, are partial rather than total.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday termed the hike in rail fares as "unprecedented and anti-people" and demanded its roll back in the interest of common people.
'In May 2020-2021, nearly 10 crores (100 million) lost jobs. 'Covid is not the reason for the present crisis. It aggravated the crisis.'
The first high-speed train between Delhi and Agra with a speed of 160 km per hour is expected to run on November 10 as Kapurthala Rail Coach Factory is all set to roll out the first rake of fourteen coaches of the train.
Will it be home or defence for Amit Shah?
'Over a decade of modernisation has been eaten by the locusts because a bunch of politicians thought obstruction was a short-cut to the headlines.'
'These reports of cases being very low in other states, is it true? Are the numbers believable?'
Silverline seems symptomatic of how Kerala -- its claimed education, awareness and all -- overlooks its real problems, notes Shyam G Menon.
